Concrete pile and method of forming same



Maur. 20,

1923- Lmwz M` BLUMENTHAL CONCRETE PILE AND METHOD OF FORMIN'G SAME Filed Jun@ 25, 1919 2 Smeets-sheet l Meur. 20, i923. 3,449,0)32 M. BLUMENTHAL. v

CONCRETE PILE AND METHOD OF FORMNG SAME Filed June 23, 1919 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented ll/lar. 2U), i923.

Mannion BLUMENrHenLQrBRooKLvN, NEW YORK.

ooncnnrr. rrLn AND Mannion or rom/rms SAME.

Application filed June 23, 1919. Srial- No. 306,134.

To all whom I? may concern -i i Be it known that I, MAURICE BLUMEN! THAL, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State ofNew York, have invent*- ed certain new -and useful Improvements in Concrete Piles and Methods of Forming iSame, of which the followingis a specilication.

This invention relates to a means -for and method of producing concrete piles'Y in the earth.

While the means herein illustrated may be employed for the making of concrete piles within the earth o'f various classes and consistency, it, however, .is particularly adapted for the making of concrete piles in earth which is soft and watery. The de`v vice of this invention may be used with especial eiiiciency in sinkingpiles to a solid bed thru water bearing strata, or even thru Y eludedl from contact with the unsetconcrete employed for the building of the pile.

A further object is to provide a suitable hollow shell adapted to be driven into the earth to receive the concrete for comprising the pile, to provide means. whereby the shell may be removed, and to provide an auX- iliary container for the concrete of a character to prevent contamination of theffconcrete with the surrounding water, and to continue holding the concretein pile`shape after the shell has been removed. i

A further object is to provide an auxiliary container `having a suitable degree of elasticity whereby to permit the material of the pile to flow, or expand, into the space left in 'the earth by the'removal of the shell.

While the objects above referred to may be readily attained with either a sectional or a non-sectional shell, yet a sectional shell is preferable, and, therefore,` a further object of this invention is to provide an auX- iliary container having such cooperative relationwith the shell as to enable easy removal of the shell sections.

' lA further object is to provide a new and improved type of auxiliary container `or liner for concrete piles. 'Y

A further object is to provide an improved method for sinking 'and completing piles of the class indicated.

Other objects and aims of this invention, more or less specic than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in' part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, -arrangements of parts and applications of principles, constituting the inventiongand the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in the vappended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely apref erred form of embodiment of the invent1on.:-

Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating a pile in the course of construe tion in accordance with this invention.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the parts of Fig. l fully driveninto the earth preparatory to the removal ofthe shell.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but illustrating one of the sections of the shell.

in the course of being removed.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a completed pile.

Figure 5 is a view similar to that shownin Fig. 2-but illustrating a modification in which two auxiliary containers are em ployed, one within and the other without the sliell.

Figure Glis a transverse sectional view taken substantially upon the plane of line Vl of Fig. l. Y Y

'Y Figure Tis asimilar sectional view taken substantiall of Fig. fandV Figure 8 is a transverse sectionaly view taken upon the planeof line VIH of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings for describing in detail the structure and features therein illustrated, the reference characterL indicates the shell, or former, which is provided at its lower end with a nose piece l and at its upper end with a cap` piece 2, the end' edges of the shell being received in suitablerecesses 3 in said nose piece and cap piece so as to retain the sections 4C, 5 and 6 of the shell in proper assembly while the -whole 'is `being driven into the earth by blows dealt uponthe upper surface of the can piece, in the usual manner.

Within the shell is arranged the auxiliary container G. This container is in the form of a bag closed on all its sides Iand at its y upon the plane of line VII thruout.

bottom, and being open only at its top end for receiving concrete emptied thereinto, for instance, thru the opening 7 of the cap piece. Preferably the cap piece is formed With a pendent flange 8 providing a recess 9 between itself and the adjacent portions of the shell for receiving the upperannular edge portions of the auxiliary container and there by properly holding said portions of the` container spread for receiving the concrete.

The container G may be of any appropriate material but I have discovered that for the purposes of this invention said container is most admirably adapted to its purposes if made of paper, the paper being suitably reinforced and being of Waterproof character I have discovered that a paper bag, 'or container, employed inthe relation as `set forth, has numerous very important advantages over containers of other materials. The paper container is very easily handled at all times. Before being placed Within theshell it may be conveniently foldT ed or Wrapped. It can be readily inserted i Within the shell. And after the concrete is introduced the space occupied vby the ,paper is almost negligible. The paper also will read'- ily accommodate itself to any and all irregu-V larities which may occur lupon the inner surface of theshell. After the shell is removed the paper also will suitably accommodate itself to the various irregularities of surface of the surrounding earth, thus enabling the pile to attaina rm and more efficient grip upon the earth While at the same time preventing undesirable spreading or .migration of the :materialof the pile into voids in the earth. y

- Furthermore, the use of paper for the auxiliary container gives to the container a certain degree of elasticity which will enablethe containerv to spread under the weight of the unset concrete when the shell is removed thus eifectually filling the opening leftby the removal of the shell. The tendency to form av vacuu'm beneath the shell` with its attendedevils, is thereby avoided.

Furthermore, as has been graphically illustrated in Figs. 3 and 7 of the"dra\vings, Wherethe shell L is a sectional shell, theremoval of one section, as for instance the section 4, by allowing the auxiliary container to spread into the space left by removal of this section, as seen at 10 in said lFigs. 3 and 7, imposes upon the container a certain degrec of strain tendingv todraw the container in a direction away from the remaining sections of `the pile.

these remaining sections of the pile: that is. along the surface 11 of said sections 4 and 5, is thereby reduced so that said Asections 4 and 5 may vthereafter be more readily removed. Of course` as the sections are rem ved, however, the excessive weight of the unset concrete will stretch the container The` friction against thruout its circumference so that the paper is forced into engagement with the surroundling earth. y

As illustrated in the drawings one section of the pile, for instance the section 4, which should be first Withdrawn, is preferably a narrower section than the sections 5 and 6. The section 4 lbeing relatively narrower,

may be withdrawn without the use of excessive force, and thereafter, due to the reduction of friction against the surface of the sections 5 and 6, as just referred to, said sections 5 and 6 may be withdrawn with equal facility as was the section 4 notwithstanding their relatively greater Width.

The paper auxiliary container also is relatively cheap so that it may be left Within the earth Without imposing an objectionable expense upon the contractor; that is, the cost of the papericontainer is markedly small when compared With the advantages attained by its use.

The paper container being left in the earth and containing the concrete after the shell has been'removed, serves to retain the concrete in proper pile form resting directly upon the uppersurface of the nose piecel, which, of course, remains buried in the earth after the shell is removed. This advantage, of course. increases in importance in proportion to the degree of softness of the earth thru which the pile extends, and being coupled with the fact that thepaper provides for the forma-tion o-f a certain degree of unevenness in the surface of the pile, according to the different portions of the surrounding earth, gives to the use of the paper bag one of its most important values.

Altho, of course, the paper container may be inserted within the shell .at any time either before or after the shell is driven, and altho the concrete may be placed within theV container after the shell is fully driven, yet it has been determined that the preferable method to follow in this respect is to place the container Within the shell prior to the driving of the shell and to'pour inthe concrete Whilev the shell is being driven, the concrete being poured in at a rate suitable to maintain the level thereof, as 12, approximately the same as the level ofthe surround; ing earth, as indicated in the drawing, Fig.

l. This method has the decided advantage f wrinkles in the paper container so that the paper is pressed into appropriate engagement with practically the whole inner surface of the shell leaving perhaps only Such wrinkles as tend to increase the expansibility ofthe container for accomplishing the results as above set' forth.

The modification Figs. 5 and R disclose substantially the same structure as that already described; that is, it illustrates a shell and a paper container G therein, the same as in the other figures. In addition it illustrates a second container, as H, arranged outside of the shell. 'The two containers are of identical construction, and it has been found that under certain circumstances` for instance where the earth is extremely,I soft so as to ofler little resistance to the spreading of the pile, use of the two containers, as illustrated, is of advantage since one serves as a reinforcement for the other. It is also to be noted that the position of the shell sections between the two containers renders the shell sections more easily removable than where one surface of the shell sections is in direct contact with the more or less granular surface of the surrounding earth.

In some instances it may be desirable to employ the outer container H while omitting the inner container 1. This arrangement will have many of the advantages above referred to with respect to the con tainer (il as will be obvious.

As many changes could be made in this construction withlout departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

As has been above referred to, this invention comprehends the use either of a sectional or a non-sectional shell, and in this connection it should bemade clea-r that where the non-sectional shell is employed, such shell being, of course, not tapered, may b e lifted bodily from the earth leaving the concrete with its paper container resting upon the nose piece. As the shellis lifted the weight of the unset concrete will cause the paper container to expand for its entire circumference into the space left by the removal of the shell, and thus prevent tendency to the formation of vacuum in said space. The paper shell in this instance, as well as in connection with the sectional shell, will,serve to bind together the component parts of the conc-rete material and thus prevent any portion ofthe concrete .from being lifted away from other portions while the shell is being withdrawn. -In this manner one of the greatest difliculties in concrete pile formation is overcome. The frictional resistance to the lifting of the shell is not felt by the concrete material of the pile but is felt only by the outer surface of the paper which, of course, is suitably strengthened to withstand it.

rIhe paper shell obviously also produces materially less friction against the surface of the shell than wo-uld the concrete material, therefore enabling the shell to be removed with much less difficulty.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. The herein described method of forming a concrete pile which consists in providing a sectional shell with a separate flexible container therein, driving said shell with said container into the earth, filling said container with unset concrete material, then removing one section of the shell while the concrete is still unset so as thus to permit a portion of the container under the pressure of the unset concrete to move into the space left by said removed sectionthus to relieve pressure against the remaining -shell sections, and thereafter removingsaidv remaining shell sections. l

2. The combination with a pile shell adapted to be driven into the earth for receiving` concrete thereinto, of a container adapted to be placed within said shell, the container being intended to receive unset concrete therein for forming the pile, being expansible under pressure of the unset concrete so as to extend into the space left in the earth by the removal of the shell, and being of a. character to hold the concrete material out of engagement with the surface of the shell .during the removal of the shell;Y

3. The combination with a pile shell adapted to be driven into the earth for receiving concrete thereinto, of a container adapted to be placed within said shell, the container being intended to receive unset concrete therein for forming the pile, being expansib'le under pressure of the unset concrete so as to extend into the space left in the earth by the removal of the shell, and being of a character to receive and sustain the lifting strains imparted to the pile by the removal of the shell, and thereby to prevent lifting of portions of the concrete material away from other portions during the removal of the shell.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

MAURICE BLUMENTHAL. Witnesses:

L. GEssFoRD HANDY, MAY SCHULZ. 

